low_delta

We spent a lot of time in the car yesterday.

We are having our CoPA picnic in a few weeks, and I wanted to check out the park ahead of time. Not strictly necessary, but Cindy said she wanted to stop at the gallery in Milwaukee and pick up some of her zines because she's running out at home. And I wanted to go to the camera store, and also stop by the park where I'm having some landscaping work done for SAS.

The part for the picnic was very far away, and we spent less than ten minutes there. Then the gallery was closed. Not much to see at the park for the landscaping. Then we stopped for a beer. So that was an hour and a half (not counting the beer) with very little to show for it.

In the evening we were going to a concert. I decided we (barely) had time to meet some friends for a drink before the show. We left the house and turned south, seeing a big cloud of black smoke to the south. Not good. We got on the freeway, and I tried to figure out what was in the area that would be burning like that. Turns out it was on the freeway. A car was fully engulfed. Right in the construction zone where there were two lanes and no shoulders. So the freeway was closed, with us on it. I turned the car off, and we sat for 70 minutes. If we had been five minutes later, the traffic would have been backed up past an offramp, and we could have gone around the blockage. Finally we started crawling, and it took another ten minutes to make it past the point where the car had been.

The show was to start at 8:00, and it was 7:45. Previously, my plan was to park for free and walk 15 minutes to the show. I realized we could pay extra to park in the lot at the amphitheater. The musicians took the stage as we entered the amphitheater, and started playing as we reached our seats, at 8:15. Perfect!

But I had forgotten about the hazard of the parking lot for the venue. It took us 40 minutes to get out. So I estimate we spent over three hours in the car.

The show, by the way, was Sessanta. Maynard Keenan, of Tool, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle, decided to go on tour for his 60th birthday. He took APC and Puscifer on the road, along with Primus. He enjoyed it so much, he did it again this year.

We've been having weather lately. The last couple of days there was very dense fog here near the lake. So I've been going over to the lake to take photos, because fog is cool. The visibility on the road was less than a tenth of a mile in places, to my best estimate. I had an early meeting this morning, and then half an hour between it and my regular start time, so I went over to the lake. The fog was so thick I could barely make out the waves on the beach a hundred feet below me.

For the last couple of days they've been talking about severe storms this evening. We actually got an alert at work today, recommending people leave the office early, though I was WFH. Cindy was visiting friends tonight, so I was on my own, and I went out for a sub. After that, I went back to the lake. The fog had cleared in advance of the storm, so there were clouds. I was there for just a few minutes, and halfway home the torrential rain started. A few minutes after I got home, we had hail for half a minute. And then it was over pretty quickly. But all around us, the storms were much worse. There were a few thousand people without power in Milwaukee.

Then I had a committee meeting, and I went back to the lake at 8:00. The sun was coming out from below the clouds, and the clouds were dramatic, so I just stood for the longest time watching them and taking tons of pictures. It was reasonable warm with a light breeze, and it was really pleasant. A nice end to my birthday.

Friday night we had a dinner with St Andrew's Society. Saturday we ran our portfolio reviews for CoPA. The event went well, and the participants were happy with it. Sunday I spent much of the day outside working in the gardens. Monday night was the St. Andrew's meeting, and I gave a presentation on The Battle of Flodden. It went very well, though I was unhappy that only thirteen other people showed up to the meeting - there was no newsletter this month. But I spent a good part of the previous week and weekend trying to put that presentation together. Tonight was the CoPA member meeting. Tomorrow, I need to mow. Thursday is a CoPA committee meeting, for the book. I haven't done any work on that topic since the last meeting, two weeks ago. Friday is whisky night. Then I have much of the weekend free. To myself, actually, since Cindy will be out of town.

I put the drain cleaner in it, and left it overnight. In the morning, it was still clogged. After a while, I got out the snake and rain it through, as far as I could. After that, it was clear. So I guess there was a clog back inside the wall somewhere? But that was a relief.

Friday evening we went to the UWM. The department of gerontology was having an event about again. They had a little photography contest, and also brought Cindy in to show some works from her Seeing Dementia series. Then they showed a movie that dealt with a couple and the wife's struggle with dementia, followed by a panel discussion.

After that we didn't have anything on the calendar but it turned out to be kind of a busy weekend. Saturday afternoon we stopped by an artist acquaintance who was having a sale. Then we went downtown to see an exhibition of photography that was about stone quarries. Really cool. Then we went for a beer.

Today was my first day outside doing yard work. I took some fencing down, trimmed some trees, picked up sticks and trash, and mowed. And allergy season has started.

I wanted to buy a couple of black long-sleeved t-shirts. I went to Kohl's, but it's almost summer and their choice of long-sleeved shirts is limited. After I got home, I went to their website. I chose the department (men's), and then drilled down through all the filters. It narrowed my choices down to 44,000 items. What am I supposed to do with that?

I typed "mens long sleeve t-shirt" and then used the filters. That got it down to 7,000. Not much help, really. The last ones I bought were by Land's End, and they're quite good, so I filtered for that maker, and I found what I wanted.

There's something to be said for curating your product selection. Not to mention giving shoppers the tools they need to find what they want.

Monday evening was the whisky tasting. It went well, for the most part, so that's over. But of course I had an early meeting the next morning. Fortunately, I didn't drink all that much.

I was in a meeting on Monday, and they scheduled a 7:30 meeting to continue the discussion the next day. One of the guys acknowledged that was early for me (that's about the time I'm normally waking up). Fortunately, it wasn't anything where they'd be relying on my for a lot of input, because my brain just isn't working at that time of day. But before they even sent meeting invites for it, I got another invitation for a 7 am meeting. The good part was that both of these meetings were the same day, so I could get them both out of the way quickly.

So Tuesday I woke up early, but when I looked at my phone there was no 7:00 meeting. When I logged on to my computer to check my calendar, I realized it was next Tuesday. So that was a waste of getting up early, and I'll have to do it again next week. And I was barely functioning for that 7:30, and in fact felt out-of-it all morning.

I had no meetings today, but have three tomorrow morning, including one at 8:00. So I'm going to have to get up and moving quickly.

Two and a half weeks ago, I reported that I didn't have much on my calendar for the next couple of weeks. That's true, but I've been very busy. All our planning for the upcoming whisky tasting ended up happening in that time period. I feel like I'm spending every waking minute on it. That's not true of course. I've also got CoPA things. We're working on the book, and having meetings every other week. I've been stressed out about getting portfolio reviews set up, because they guy who's getting hold of reviewers for us hasn't been communicative. And our speaker dropped out of next month's meeting, so I was without a speaker. Without a clue, really. Cindy reminded me of somebody, and he was able to step in, so that was nice, but I've been so stressed that I couldn't even think of a plan to get someone. (Of course I brought it up to the board and they didn't have any ideas.)

I got home after the CoPA meeting on Tuesday and was exhausted. I was better last night, but I'm exhausted again. I feel like I'm fighting off illness. Oh, and I haven't been eating as much for the last week. Cutting down on food because most of it goes straight through me (some days).

So I don't know what to do right. I need to do something mindless. Maybe I'll watch some videos. Or clean the bathroom.

Starting Monday I have plans for half the days of the next three weeks.

I wrote about my cameras on Substack.

https://substack.com/inbox/post/156650327

I'm posting it here mainly to have a record here where I keep all my records. Writing that took me five or six hours! I had to do a lot of research, both on which cameras I used at which time, but also tracking down the photos.

I think I have the flu. Despite a flu shot.

I was out in public on Saturday evening. It was a banquet, so there were many people there. I was out in public again on Sunday morning, but I didn't talk to many people. I woke up Sunday with a bit of a sore throat, but it went away so I thought maybe it was just from snoring. But in the evening I felt like that slight feeling of illness may have come back for a while. Monday I went to work, but didn't get close to anyone.

Today I woke up with a painful sore throat. I worked (from home) less than six hours. By evening I was feeling worse. I had a birthday party to go to tomorrow, but I'm sure I won't be able to go to it. Friday is supposed to be whisky night, and I doubt I'll be OK enough to go to that. Other than that, I have no plans outside of the house for a couple of weeks. I was looking forward to resting up after this week was over, but it looks like I'll have to start resting sooner, and much less comfortably.